Pankaj Sharma

British academic

Pankaj Sharma is a British professor of Clinical Neurology[1] at Royal Holloway College, University of London, and consultant neurologist at Imperial College London. He is director of the Institute of Cardiovascular Research at Royal Holloway (ICR2UL),[2] and formerly head of the Imperial College Cerebrovascular Research Unit (ICCRU) at Imperial College London.[3] His main interest is in identifying genes for stroke, particularly in those of South Asian heritage.

He was president of the British Fulbright Scholars Association and is currently Medical Advisor of the UK national young stroke victim charity Different Strokes,[4] co-founder and treasurer of the South Asian Health Foundation (1998).[5] He is a Fellow of the Medical Society of London, editor-in-chief of the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine Cardiovascular Disease,[6] president of the London Cardiovascular Society (2009),[7] and an expert external advisor to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.

## Education

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Sharma studied medicine at London University from 1983 to 1988 and holds two doctorates, a PhD from Gonville and Caius College, University of Cambridge in 1998 and a Doctorate in Medicine from London University in 2003. In 1998 he was the recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital.[8] He holds a diploma in the history of medicine from the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in 2007 and is a Royal College examiner.[8]

### Research

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He is a researcher in the field of stroke and is particularly interested in its genetical basis. He has established a large international biobank of stroke from the UK, India and the Middle East with the aim of trying to better understand the causes of stroke in ethnic minorities, especially those of South Asian descent.

He is the author of some 100 original papers and is the co-editor of two books: Stroke Genetics (Springer 2017; 2nd edition) and Clinical Pharmacology (Elsevier 2018) which is now in its twelfth edition.

Sharma has been a commentator for news media including the BBC and CNN International on medical issues especially relating to stroke. He has been interviewed on the subject of brain disease in prominent individuals including Ariel Sharon, Michael Schumacher and Jules Bianchi.

### Awards

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Sharma received a British Heart Foundation Clinician Scientist award in 1997, and in 2010 he was one of the recipients of the Hind Rattan award.[citation needed]

In 2015, he was named the UK's top Asian doctor at the annual British Indian Awards.[9][10]

## Personal life

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He was born in Delhi, the son of Kewal Krishan Sharma (Indian Foreign diplomatic service who served under three prime ministers, Nehru, Shastri and Indira Gandhi) and Janak Sharma (Bank of England). Under his grandfather, Bihari Lal Sharma, the family was noted for holding the licence for Kodak prior to India's partition. He is chairman of the UK charity founded by his family, Lotus Partners Foundation. He lists his hobbies as debating, fencing[11] and playing polo and describes himself as 'generous, disciplined and maverick'.[12] Sharma lives in London with his doctor wife and two children, Aarti and Shyam.

## Private practice

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Sharma has a neurology private practice[13] in Harley Street.

## References

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1. ^ "Faculty of Medicine". 1.imperial.ac.uk.
2. ^ "Royal Holloway | the Institute of Cardiovascular Research | Biological Sciences home". Archived from the original on 2016-08-07. Retrieved 2015-05-23.
3. ^ "Imperial College Cerebrovascular Research Unit (ICCRU)". Archived from the original on 24 June 2010.
4. ^ "Home". Differentstrokes.co.uk. Retrieved 4 June 2022.
5. ^ "SAHF Website : Members". Archived from the original on 2011-10-09. Retrieved 2009-10-05.
6. ^ "JRSM Cardiovascular Disease". Archived from the original on 2015-05-27. Retrieved 2015-05-23.
7. ^ "London Cardiovascular Society | Home". Archived from the original on 2019-09-14. Retrieved 2022-06-28.
8. ^ a b "Royal Holloway | Staff | Biological Sciences home". Archived from the original on 2017-02-03. Retrieved 2015-09-06.
9. ^ [1] [dead link]
10. ^ "UK's top Asian medical doctor named at the British Indian Awards 2015 | ACNR | Online Neurology Journal". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-05-23.
11. ^ Marquis Who's Who in the World.
12. ^ Sharma, P. (2015). "BMJ Observations". BMJ. 351: h3960. doi:10.1136/bmj.h3960. PMID 26223972. S2CID 34611381.
13. ^ "London Medical Practice | Professor Pankaj Sharma MD PhD FRCP". Londonmedicalpractice.com. Retrieved 4 June 2022.

Authority control databases

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